I sit here sipping coffee out of a thermos plunger cup, bought from Amazon, half watching Two and Half Men, over digital freeview, looking out over the privatized Virgin train line and the shared ownership newbuild, while my robot vacuum scuttles about cleaning the flat; later I'll be off to John's 35th birthday lunch. I wonder when I considered being middle aged, say 25 years ago, I had this in mind. Probably a less stupid robot would have been involved (although I might have glumly predicted a global depression).
But speaking of smart/stupidity, today's entry is a DVD, from LoveFilm (like netflix). They won't get a thorough recording on this blog (hello future, again), like history books, but may get a mention now and then.
I've been ill, so during the week I fired up the laptop and watched Smart People. I think everyone knows the problems with this: not least the unbelievable romance, the smugness, the implausible romcom plot pretending to be the Wonderboys meets that wine drinking film artsiness. Would a book titled 'You Can't Read' really pay for Stanford? And an angsty poem in the New Yorker? Really? But I liked bits of it, not least all the actors enjoying themselves (but not Quaid's limping - an actorly reference to a wife-killing car crash, one assumes), and Page's snarkiness. And every family needs a Haden Church. The scene about the jeans being 'snug' was pretty well done. And I liked the bored lecturer feeling. Plus 'uxorious' is useful word. However, it left me wondering, what's up with Sarah Jessica Parker. Even the final credit shots of the 'happy new family' had her half hidden behind furniture, or almost out of shot. And the few scenes she got were basically the coquettish indie ticks she always does (poor me, I'm a little awkward but look at me being cute). Perhaps it was all truly awful and the director left it all on the cutting room floor. But even Michael Douglas had a Wall Street in him, so when's a decent film going to come along? The very watchable Quaid would also be happier churning out flicks in the 1950s, I reckon.
Back to 2009: now my robot is beeping at me, asking for attention. Not so smart.
No comments:
Post a Comment